May Happenings

Pops at Hemingbough

The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra returns to Hemingbough on May 1 with Classical Mystery Tour, four musicians who look and sound just like The Beatles!  Table seating and single tickets can be purchased by calling the Symphony office at 383-0500 or online at www.brso.org.  Hemingbough will provide a full service bar with soft drinks, beer, wine and champagne, and you’ll even be able to buy Republic of West Florida Bicentennial souvenir wine glasses or champagne flutes!  Jambalaya and char-grilled hamburgers as well as other tasty treats will be available on the grounds.  Or you can pack your own picnic basket, too.  Gates open at 5:30 pm, and the concert starts at 7:30 pm.  In case of rain, the performance will be held on Sunday, May 2 – same time, same place!

 

Friday Night Music

This Friday, April 29, it’s local favorite Delta Drifters performing on the screened porch at The Magnolia Café.  Wear your dancing shoes!

 

More Music!

Friday, May 7, at The Mag, Flatbed Honeymoon will be performing.  The lineup for the rest of May looks like this:  Friday, May 14 – Fugitive Poets; Friday, May 21 – United We Jam; Friday, May 28 – Delta Drifters.

 

Market Day at the Methodist Church

On Saturday, May 8 from 9 am until 8 pm, the St. Francisville United Methodist Church family is hosting Market Day.  There will be delicious meals served – breakfast, lunch and dinner – and auctions, too.  A silent auction starts at 9 am with the bidding ending at 5 pm.  The live auction will begin at 6 pm, and expect to find antiques, furniture, household furnishings and lots of other exciting items.  There will a garage sale at 9 am, too, and homemade baked goods, free child care while you shop, a baking contest, and arts & artistry!  For more information on all the events of this day, call the church at 225-635-3763.

 

Nature Day

Audubon State Historic Site presents nature programs all day on Saturday, May 8.  At 10am and again at noon, visitors can participate in an Animal Discovery program which introduces them to a few of the site’s resident creatures.  At 1:30pm and again at 2:30 pm, visitors will have the opportunity to go on a guided nature walk around the park led by one of the site’s park rangers.  There, they will discover the different plants and habitats found within the park.  Beautiful weather and interesting guides make this a perfect day to get out with the family.  For more information, call 225-635-3739.

 

Mother’s Day

May 9 is the day set aside to honor and celebrate our mothers.  The gift shops and garden centers of West Feliciana and St. Francisville have many gifts to choose from, or will give you men some great ideas for what Mom really wants!

 

No Kitchen Duty

Mom should have the day off on May 9, and our local restaurants are happy to provide a delectable array of choices to please any palate.  Carriage House Restaurant, Eight Sisters, Magnolia Café, The Oxbow, South of the Border, and The Bluffs Restaurant are all open and offering something very special for the Moms.  A special Mother’s Day Happenings will follow with detailed menus for all.

 

Old West Florida

Each month, Audubon State Historic Site offers programs to celebrate the Bicentennial of the West Florida Republic.  On Sunday, May 9, at noon and again at 2 pm, there will be a talk on the leaders of the West Florida Rebellion.  Led by a park ranger, these talks will introduce the visitor to a few of the Spanish colonists who led the rebellion against their government in 1810.  For more information, call 225-635-3739.

 

Community Market Day

St. Francisville Main Street and Arts For All are opening Parker Park every month on the Third Saturday from 9am until 1pm for Community Market Day.  All local artists, craftsman, farmers, people who sell baked and homemade items as well as vintage or antique furniture are invited to join this new project.   The next Community Market Day will be Saturday, May 15, 2010, at Parker Park from 9am until 1pm.  Music will be from 10am until noon.  Come spend the morning in Parker Park.  For more information, call either Lynn at 635-3665 or Laurie at 635-3873.

 

Tea and Sensibility

Also on Saturday, May 15, from 10 am until 4 pm, Audubon State Historic Site presents this spring gala.  Visitors will get a chance to experience life for the wealthy during the Empire, or Federal, period which was from 1790 to the 1820s.  Focusing on Jane Austen’s guidelines for social etiquette, visitors will learn about what was in fashion, English tea traditions, a woman’s role in society, favorite games and dances of the period and so much more.  For information, call 225-635-3739.

 

Lost Arts at Rosedown

Every third Saturday of the month, Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site presents demonstrations of the “Lost Arts” of the 19^th century.  On May 15 from 11 am until 3 pm, the program will feature the “lost art” of medical practices of the 19^th century.   For more information, phone 225-635-3332.

 

Spring Garden Stroll

Experience four unique local gardens at this self-guided garden tour in historic St. Francisville on Saturday, May 15, from 9 am until 1 pm.  Highlighted this year are the gardens of Melissa Higgins on Ferdinand Street; Tom and Susie Tully right next door; Mitch and Julie Brashier’s on Royal Street; Buddy Metz’s form on Stirling Road off of Bains Road; and Imahara’s Southern on Mahoney Road.  Garden Advance tickets ($10) are available at the West Feliciana Extension Office or on the day of the tour, at the tour headquarters at Town Hall.  All proceeds of the tour go to local 4-H scholarship and local Farmer’s Market.  Ticket holders are eligible for door prizes and admission to other local attractions.  For more information, phone 225-635-3614 or email abrock@agcenter.lsu.edu.

 

Meanwhile, Back at Café du Monde . . .

This unique, festive food story/monologue event about the second universal language – food – and how our lives revolve around it will premiere at The Myrtles Plantation on Sunday, May 16.  The event begins with a cocktail party at 5:30 pm with music by Steve Bing and The Bayou Hot Shots with showtime at 7:00 pm.  Created, directed and produced by Peggy Sweeney-McDonald, originally from Baton Rouge, tickets can be purchased by calling 800-809-0565.  Ticket price is $55 and includes 2 drinks (beer or wine), cocktail buffet with heavy appetizers, dessert and the show.  A portion of the tickets will benefit the West Feliciana Parish TRIAD Program for the Elderly.

 

Cycling and More

Once again, West Feliciana parish and the lovely town of St. Francisville will host the West Feliciana Memorial Weekend Classic on May 29 and 30.  This year the event will include a number of rides and races for everyone.  There will be 4 rides/races, for younger and older, beginners to pros, in the town of St. Francisville and the rolling hills of West Feliciana.  These events will culminate in a Cycling Festival for All on Sunday, May 30 at the West Feliciana Sports Park.  For more information, visit www.westfelclassic.org.